Fidel Castro appears in video on Chavez program

HAVANA, Oct 14 (Reuters) Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro appeared today in a 17-minute video clip shown on Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's weekly television show broadcast from Cuba.

Castro, 81, looked frail but alert in the video as he spoke about revolutionary icon Che Guevara during a four-hour meeting with Chavez on Saturday. He wore a track suit top over his pajamas.

Castro has not appeared in public since emergency surgery forced him to hand over power to his brother Raul last year.

Chavez broadcast his weekly radio and television show from the Che Guevara mausoleum in the Cuban city of Santa Clara.

REUTERS SYU RAI2235